Town Hall Harvest Fresh

Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery has gone all apple-happy. They're now pouring ten different ciders on tap on a daily basis, and inaugurated Cider Week earlier this year. And this season, they released a second fresh hop beer, this one celebrating not just the hop crop, but guess what else? Apples! It's called Harvest Fresh, and I took home a growler last week. Let's it open it up and see if I'm going to enjoy 64 full fluid ounces.

Appearance: clear, bright golden color, slim white head.

Aroma: bright, vibrant and fruity, some stone fruits, like apricot and peach, a little citrus, more smooth than bitter. Some hops are here, but on a very mellow scale.

Taste: On first sip, there a bitter hoppy bite, then a fruity flush. Sip it again, there's a return of the hoppy smack, then brisk carbonation, next come the apples. The come in with more tart on the third, until that's all I'm tasting. By the fourth gulp, we're in Cidertown, my friend. The hop bitterness and the apple-y tartness go hand in hand. Body is medium-low, leaving the main ingredients to do all the talking. Tart apple flavor is turning a degree sour, subsuming the parts of the ale. It finishes crisp, dry, and refreshing, a unique and intriguing drink.

I'll finish this, and I will enjoy it, but it's not the sort of thing I'd ever choose over an IPA, a stout, or a Belgian single. Sorry, appleheads, not gonna happen.

Here's the official word on it: "The second fully fresh hop beer we made in 2014. Fall is the harvest season for many things…hops and apples to name a couple. We worked with Milk and Honey Cidery and received 3 BBL of fresh pressed apple juice to use in this beer, it is fresh hopped with Equinox. A relatively new hop that gives off a strong apple and citrus character. 5.7%"

So, why is a well-regarded, award-winning brewpub showing such devotion to cider, I wondered? The answer came back to me that the owners feel that cider is the next big thing, and they want to be ahead of the curve. At the risk of being on the wrong side of history, I just don't see it. Cider has it's charms, of course, but I remain immune to them. As for it's champions, the only ones I know personally also happen to sell it or make it, and I just can't be turned over to their side, try as I might. There simply isn't the diversity of flavors that beer has, and what there is, it's so delicate in distinction, it honestly doesn't register with me. Maybe I need to try harder to like cider, but more often I find my time pre-occupied in pursuit of beer.